At ‘Prairie’ and ‘Orniphonica 2,’ Machines Make Nature Sound Awesome

Circuits and synthesizers mimic the natural world in two free art shows at the Cultural Center and Lincoln Park Conservatory.

By Jason Foumberg

Published April 3, 2013

Photograph: Cathy Tschannen

Although I live in the Midwest, I’ve never seen a Midwestern prairie. Instead, I savor Chicago’s plentiful manufactured nature-experiences: the parks, the greenhouse conservatories, the lakefront bike path, and the produce aisle.

This month, on the cusp of spring, two artists show a similar fondness for the virtual countryside, in Prairie and Orniphonica 2.

Prairie

Prairie, by Shawn Decker, masterfully reenacts the sound of twilight in a shrubby landscape as if performed by a robot orchestra. Hundreds of miniature speakers atop brass poles, at the height of tall grass, emit a clicking symphony of randomized pulses and rhythms. The poles are attached to a programmed circuit-board (pick up the gallery brochure to see a cool diagram), which controls the infinite song. It sounds like takatakata, or a thousand crickets pecking away at typewriters.

The clicks bounce off the Cultural Center’s coffered ceilings. Skyscrapers peek through the windows. It’s a calming hush in the middle of downtown, and you can really lose yourself there. It’s quite meditative.

There’s also ample programming, such as a terrarium workshop on April 6, a talk with the artist on March 28, and performances by Atom-r on April 20, 21, and 24.

On view through May 3 at the Chicago Cultural Center, fourth floor, 78 E Washington. Free to attend.

Orniphonica 2

The fern room at the Lincoln Park Conservatory is one of my favorite places to spend a cold afternoon. It is humid and smells unabashedly verdant. The place hardly needs anything extra to make it more perfect, yet Orniphonica 2, a digital sound composition by Bob Snyder, animates the glass-and-steel greenhouse with synthesizer birdsong.

The all-electronic chirps accent the fern room with a surreal lullaby, accompanied by the fat drips of condensation from the glass ceiling and the primordially slow sound of fronds unfurling. Conservatory signage describes the fern room as a place where “a dinosaur would feel at home.” Indeed, Snyder’s soundtrack adds an eerie, time-warp mood to the lush indoor garden.

On view through May 31 at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, 2391 N Stockton. Free to attend.